• Buy low sell high. What the hell does that mean if what you’re buying is low for a good reason? Or you buy gold high at $500 and look where it is now. Or you buy value and the value never comes.

“There is no growth without value; there is no value without growth. Growth and value can’t be viewed in isolation.” Charlie Munger

• Hot money deciding what is good and fundamentals don't matter.

“The market can stay irrational longer than an investor can remain solvent.” (John Maynard Keynes) But, in the end, fundamentals matter.

• People doing what ever the hell they want spending like idiots and then wandering why they have bad luck.

"We're not going to save our way out of this recession.” "We've got to spend our way out of this recession, and I think most economists know that." Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.)

• How about do the right thing do as I say but I have never really experienced any of it.

Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy by Peter Schweizer

It’s not what you know that counts; it’s how well you tell the story because perception is reality.

• The carbon tax in BC goes to nothing and idiots buy the logic of it.

Ah, but it’s a feel good environmental thing that just might encourage a bit of energy conservation.

 

I am about to start my Christmas shopping but I am not clear on what I should do!

Should I reduce my spending and stay out of debt while saving the planet or should I spend more than ever to help the economy in it's time of need?

Should I buy more stuff or keep my money????

On the news, I hear both sides, that is, that we are spending too much and saving too little or that the retail sales numbers are down which is not good for the economy.

And then, there is the whole environmental issue!

What should we do?

 

Sometimes I wonder if I should not invest all my money in 6/49.

Ah, I've just noticed I'm now a SENIOR Member! I did it not because of the quality, but the quantity of posts.

 

Sometimes I wonder if I should not invest all my money in 6/49.

Not ALL of it, but I recently spent $100 on one of those hospital lottery tickets. With minimum prize of $100 and awesome grand prizes plus 1 in 20 chances to win, I thought what the heck. If you're going to play the lottery these are the best odds IMO.

From your responsible lottery playing friendly neighborhood CMFer, for whom this is only his 2nd lottery ticket in 4 years.

 

My one in twenty odds of winning on those $100 lotteries has so far netted me zero, na-na, nothing!!!

Once you take the $100 prizes out, the odds drop to approximately one in around a million!!

But, what the heck, as they say, somebody has to win but you have to have the luck of the gods.

It would be nice to win though so that I could care less how my stock funds are doing!!!

I understand that some of the best odds are on the provincial scratch tickets such as Ontario Millions etc. that are just distributed in one province. However, you need to go on the lottery website to see how many of the top prizes for each scratch game have already been won. If none have yet been won, then that would be the best time to buy with the best odds of winning.

Even then, you have a much better chance of being run over by a bus!!!

 

http://greaterfool.ca/

 

Good post by scomac who really defused any of my so called rants with some really good quotes.

Taxsaver I am sure you find this pointless because you can only think one way. But you will find that while the numbers are very important they are not what makes a business successful. Retaining customers, advertising, brand, quality, ideas, people and many other things that may not show up in the numbers today but could hurt a business or make your stock price drop in the future.

I like to try to get a discussion going sometimes to add a little spice and see if new stuff comes up to talk about. Belguy seems to get it because he seems to try to do the same thing. I find talking about tax is very boring but I do recognize it is a very important part of our lives, so I wouldn't say it is pointless to talk about.

 

Scotiabank putting children all over their website. Like really, this has nothing to do with banking, other then reaffirming you emotionally to give money to Scotia, cause hey, pictures of (your) children are all over their website??

Remember the signs in their windows at every branch, "Your richer than you think" right next to "0% down mortgage apply here?"

 

Another rant: THe RRSP season drilled in the masses by means of advertisement or media.

I can't believe how many adds I read last year about RRSP in the newspapers or on windows of banks, tv commercials, etc. One paper I sometimes read, (if I don't have a novel), is called the METRO and is free. You usually find it at subway stops or GO train. I get it that since the paper is free, it would be loaded with advertisement.

However I noticed last year, there seemed to be an article in it every day regarding your RRSPs. Usually beside the article, a major banks logo was there with their own advertisement. I was so sick of reading about it. Everybody and their mother was trying to scramble last minute contributions before the "deadline", cause hey, they didn't save at all so why not take an RRSP loan any pay interest on that? You can spend the tax refund on shopping! And deadline means if you don't contribute before a certain date, you are dead right? Deadline??

What was wrong was the message they were trying to sell: Don't avoid your RRSP. Everyone must contribute, etc. You would think RRSP are the holy grail and perfect for everyone, because all of this positive spin on it. I never read any consideration or advice on how RRSP are wrong for low income earners, how TFSA has advantages or CPP/gov retire income can claw backs later on or the fact that you have to pay tax on withdraws that including gains made inside that "shelter".

Thanks for reading, I'm done.

 

RRSP's are often overhyped and oversold! Enjoy your money while you are young because, heh, you never know!!!

The financial world is full of conflicts of interest.

 

Life Insurance salesmen

They are always talking about your family. Hey if I want to bet I am going to die young, I will call you. Otherwise please leave me alone. I understand mortality tables and don't need all your complex tables on how to save tax. Sure I can save tax but then I spend it on your company profits.

Right down there with Used Car Salesmen and Financial Services sales people.

Electronics Salesmen who want me to buy extended warranties. Why? Because they increase their profit on the sale!

 

Politicians.

 

People who walk, push strollers or jog right on the street facing oncoming traffic (usually with ipods in ears) when there is an empty sidewalk or clear path available only a few steps away. One of these idiots surprised me around a blind corner the other day.

 

Media : How they only tell one side of the story to get you hooked.

Hollywood : Expendables: written, directed and main actor (guess who) also
used as plug for arnie's upcoming run at president. Rambo was busted for
steroids a long time ago, but it looks like he got another shipment in.

Politicians

Final thought. Its all about the money. Saying, doing, whatever you have to,
to get as much of it as possible, as fast as possible.

 

I agree with kcowan about the electronic salesmen selling warranties. One question on this though it used to be a good idea to take one on laptops. I wonder if this is still a good idea today? I also bought a Mac and did take a warranty when the salesman chopped the cost of the warranty in half. I figured with my luck I would get a lemon and a Mac is expensive.

 

The people on RFD are walking into Futureshop/Best Buy and buying lap tops. When the salesman offers the PSP and care package, they say no. The salesman becomes desperate and says, "I'll knock $100 off the price of the lap top, (which is usually already on sale), if you buy the PSP and care package."

A deal is made, then the next day, the RFDer goes to another store, returns the PSP and the care package! (Get's to keep the lap top with the money off!)

 

Women in bars!

I see this woman sitting alone at the local watering hole at closing time , just trying to be nice , cause I kinda felt sorry for her sitting there all alone , I walks up and I says "hey babe , wanna get lucky?" , she tells me to @#$% off!

I mean , I'm just being friendly , hey , I'm good looking , I'm sophisticated , I have a nice truck , and I only had 14 beers or so , not like I'm intoxicated or anything.

Now I'll bet This same woman is probably back at home checking her status on E-harmony.com , looking for a guy with blue hair and wavy eyes , who likes long walks on the beach , or classical music or some other BS.

I mean , she had her chance at a real man , she blew it , so I don't feel the least bit sorry for her , what the hell was she even doing in the bar at closing time , when I was young they were all fair game at the end of the night , and they knew it too , that's why they stayed late.

You'd think these women would jump on a chance like that , I mean us older guys get better as we age , these old broads aint spring chickens anymore.

I never used to get refused at closing time , we're just gonna have to re-think this women in bars thing.

 

Christmas! Especially the gift exchange part. If we even needed more stuff, we would be better off picking it out for ourselves.

I love January when all of the hype is over and peace and quiet settles over the land.

 

Boxing week is also getting to be a joke. The so called sales that everyone crams the stores for are really not there. You will probably get your best deals when all the idiots have left and the real sales start in the middle of January.

People are so stupid in fact that on November 11 people waited 4 hours to cross the border from BC to the US. The News Hour asked one idiot how long he has been waiting and he said 3 hours. They then asked why and he said to go buy some pants. You would better off working at a minimum wage job for 4 hours and then buying the pants here with those wages you earned.

 

In recent years, I feel that there have been better sales in November than on Boxing Day or in January.

Anyway, who needs more stuff??

Live simply so that others can simply live!!

Ben Bernanke was on '60 Minutes' tonight and he feels that the U.S. is in for "at least four to five years of high unemployment" and that the loss of jobs will be "protracted".

He is trying to manage a delicate balancing act between deflation where prices start spiraling downward or inflation where prices may rise out of control.

He feels that the current recovery is "not self-sustaining".

On the program, they stated that the U.S. has "the biggest disparity of income between rich and poor of any industrialized country" and that the gap continues to widen.

Bernanke concluded that "the next several years are going to be tough years and that the U.S. will have to face many difficult challenges".

Merry Christmas to all and God bless us every one!!

 

Bernanke and his gang of idiots created this whole mess or did nothing to stop it. He should have paid attention to making America stronger rather then bailing out banks and so on so the rich bankers could achieve their full bonuses while they failed miserably.

Lucky for him that no one takes responsibility for their actions in this day and age. So you blame whoever and everyone else in the US does this so there are no consequences for them.

 

Today I spent my day driving. My last appointment was in Oshawa, I drove from Mississauga to Oshawa in a snow storm.

Everyone in Toronto immediately forgets anything they ever learned about driving in snow the moment they see a snowflake. They reboot to their default settings of driving at 20 km per hour just like their first driving lesson.

I get to the appointment on time after driving past my house to get there, the trip was one and half hours.

The appointment was set for 4:00, at 3:58 I get a phone call from the girls's aunt... hey our car doesn't work well in the snow, can I reschedule?

Can the iPhone 5 have a button you can press that automatically punches the caller in face? I sang Cee Lo Green's song all the way home.

 

The appointment was set for 4:00, at 3:58 I get a phone call from the girls's aunt... hey our car doesn't work well in the snow, can I reschedule?

Before I relocated to Vancouver, I was staying at a friend's place when there was a snowstorm. I allowed an extra 20 munites to commute in a rental car to Burnaby. Got there 15 minutes early. Only 6 people showed up for work. Whenever there is a snowfall in Lotusland, work become optional!

 

I clearly need to move to Vancouver

 

Why do most people seem to want to live in big cities anyway?

Where I live, you can get anywhere you want to go within 15 minutes and you don't have to line up for anything and everything. How much of their lives do big city folks spend in lineups and traffic jams?

Also, the Ontario government auditor chastized the provincial Fiberals for paying bonuses to civil service workers who take less time off for sick days.

In the real world, where I worked, my employer did not pay any bonuses to those who took fewer sick days although they may have been in line for an earlier promotion than those who took many such days off.

 

Why do most people seem to want to live in big cities anyway?

I think they do it because that is where the jobs are!

My youngest son tried to work in London but eventually got frustrated by the limited opportunity and moved to Toronto.

 

Rob Ford said today that, under his regime, people will have to learn to live without the 'nice to haves'. He said that politicians must learn that every dollar that they take out of the taxpayers' pockets in the way of more taxes, is one less dollar that each taxpayer has to spend it the way that he or she wants or needs to spend it.

Makes sense to me!!

Also, if you live in a big city, you have to have a high paying, big city job just to get by.

In a smaller place, you don't need to make as much because the costs are lower. For example, around here, you can get a nice house for around $125,000--not a mansion but there is less keeping up with the Joneses here. You pay, big time, for the amenities of the big city whether or not you use them.

You shouldn't have to move from London to Toronto for a decent job unless you have other motives and needs and ambitions.

 

You shouldn't have to move from London to Toronto for a decent job unless you have other motives and needs and ambitions.

I think it is just ambition. Big companies provide more opportunities than small towns. If you land a good job at London Life then you luck in but then you owe your soul to the company store and many independent people don't like that much.

I mean it is not worth arguing about. Thae facts speak for themselves.

 

Some people don't like driving or don't have cars.
Some people like being close to their family.
Some people like the culture of big broadway, concerts, clubs.
Some people like going to professional sporting events daily.
Some people like to be surrounded by a lot of other people and people watch.
Some people prefer the anonymity that can come with being in a larger pack
Some people's chosen career has no job opportunities in small towns.
Some people feel less of a standout as a minority.

It has a lot to do with density of opportunity; commercial, social, cultural, sexual etc